MATALAN founder and chairman John Hargreaves unveiled his deal to take the north west discount retailer back into family ownership, just in time for yesterday's noon deadline.

The breakthrough for Mr Hargreaves came after he won the support of the Matalan board for an offer valuing the business at é817m.

Mr Hargreaves, who already has control over the Skelmersdale business, as his family owns 53 per cent of the shares, published the terms of the offer at the same time as a midday deadline for him to make his bid or walk away.

The offer price of 200p a share is in line with market expectations and represents a premium of 20.8 per cent on the price prior to an announcement in June that Mr Hargreaves was contemplating a possible offer.

Slumped

In February, Matalan announced a sharp fall in annual underlying profits, after sales slumped in the face of challenging trading conditions.

Improvements to clothing ranges helped the business over the summer, although it emerged today that like-for-like sales were back in negative territory in the past six weeks. Mr Hargreaves, who founded the business in 1985, said: "The company's recent difficulties have led me to believe that Matalan would be better off back in the private ownership of the Hargreaves family This will enable us to make the necessary changes to the business and restore the original values and ethos that enabled the company to grow."